Leaderboard

ok,,,,had a look at all the offerings from this TradeMe seller. Some nice, desirable, bits of kit here. The seller seems to have some good contacts (in Japan?). Prices seem very high though the cars on offer are presented well. Nothing exceptional in regards to collectability or really low km's imo however. As usual, the market will decide on the true value of these cars, and I suspect that, at these prices, these vehicles may sit a while before being sold at lower values.

Is your car NZ new or an import? The level of equipment that is provided ex-factory, even on the high-end models, is amazingly low. To bring the cars up to the NZ specification requires pages of features to be added, that is before you even start getting into the additional options that can be added on top. I guess the reason being is that the same models are sold all around the world, so there will be countries that are happy to take lower base equipment and then up-sell the features.

So in the end.. Rear: I replaced OEM bushes with aftermarket eccentric hardware with poly bushes. Front left strut was 4mm out with no cracks but concern around straightening and weakening it. Finding a straight 51mm replacement was going to be hit and miss and expensive so went with adjustable camber plates. With a specialist alignment from Avanced Wheel Alignments in Napier it now handles like it should

Hey Brad, sorry I must update this- has since sold, to my uncle. Makes it hard seeing it every week, miss it like crazy now. cheers

@adro was kind enough to show me around and let me have a spin in his 540i today - awesome car! Absolutely beautiful to drive and has a menacing exhaust note to match Cheers!

New Year. New Update! After getting the car back home it was time to start fresh and sort out what needed to be done. First off i knew that the sump had a pinhole leak in it that needed to be sorted so the front end, suspension, subframe and cooling system was stripped back again to remove that to be re-welded, while i was at it i replaced the waterpump that was also leaking. A new clutch line was also routed up and over the gearbox, to keep it away from the headers, and the accelerator cable shortened and finished up with all the correct clips and grommets. After a couple of months everything was bolted back up and the car was taken to Sam Smith, of Smith Industries, to get a couple things tided up and fabricated, this included a slight change to the rear exhaust tips, a cold air box, a sump bash plate, heat shielding around the headers and a battery hold down in the boot. His work is amazing and id definitely recommend anyone who needs some fabrication done of any kind, for a good deal, to contact him. Once the car was back home it was time to tidy up the wiring side of things, as this had been worked on by a couple of others over the last few years. Local guru Nigel from Ignition Autosport was enlisted to undertake this job. While this was being done, the cooling system and necessary sensors were also completed and fluids checked before it was fired back up and ready for its first drive under its own power! A crack in the power steering reservoir was discovered, so a new one was ordered before this could happen. Coolant return hose and washer fluid hose from the rear bottle are neatly hidden away inside the front guard. A few parts were starting to accumulate over time, like the fresh bumper trims, thanks to fellow touring owner Dylan HJ, some small goodies from overseas and another set of perfect smileys from a local guy who didn't know the value of them, also thanks to Andy, Lucan, Richard (e46v12), Mike from EuroTurbo for the help over the last 9 Months sourcing small things. With things not going smoothly at times, photos like this just remind me how far things have come, and how it will all be worth it! First drive under its own power! IMG_4022.mp4 IMG_4198.mp4 IMG_4201.mp4 With the car running and no issues so far, panel and paint was on the list to get ticked off. So a few long weekends were spent striping it all and documenting, labelling etc so i knew how to put it all back together! DJI_0007.mov Watch this Space....